Hundredth Horror
by Drizzlemist
Summary: How is Arylina going to survive the Hunger Games this year? A double twist with more misery ahead for the tributes, intimidating Careers who look like they would rip your head off if you even went near them, not to mention that she's Foxface's niece!


**A/N- Okay, I redid this chapter, because I changed my mind about having it from more than one person's POV. This is going to stay in this one character's POV, until her (maybe) death. Enjoy!**

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Arylina - District Five

Breakfast-y smells drift upward from the kitchen as I remember. Today is the reaping. A cold pit of dread weighs in my heart as I really take in the fact that I could be drawn.

"Arylina! Breakfast is ready!" my mom yells.

"Coming!" I say. I don't even bother changing, because I have to wear a Reaping dress anyway.

Breakfast is delicious, but I can't stop thinking about the Reaping. Before I know it, I have to put on a dress and get ready to leave. What? What happened to the rest of the morning?

"Arylina, if you don't hurry up, we'll be late!" my mom says. She doesn't seem to be too worried about my Reaping chances, which is surprising, because my name is in the bowl 56 times. Why? Because the twist said that 12 year olds get their names put in 7 times, 13 year olds 6 times, etc. And only 12-14 year olds can sign up for tesserae. Add that to the fact that the arena is going to be a maze. I'm 14, so I guess we should be glad that I can sign up for tesserae. Of course, the tesserae twist was announced half a year ago, so that only 12-14 year olds would sign up for it. I have a large family, and my older sister, Jacqueline, is 17, but she wouldn't volunteer for me if I was drawn anyway. She must be relieved that she doesn't have to sign up for tesserae.

I sigh and go upstairs to put on a dress. It's light green, the same color as my eyes. When I put it on, I see that there are green flats to go with it. My mom does my hair, but when she looks at me, she gets tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I ask her.

"You look just like your aunt." she replies. I know what she means. My aunt, Jaquelyn, who my older sister is named after, was in the 74th Hunger Games. She would probably have been victor, but I think she just didn't want to live, or she knew that she didn't have a chance against Thresh or Cato, so she wanted a painless way out.

Our family leaves the house and walks toward the square. When we get there, my parents and younger siblings go wait in the adult section, while Jacqueline and I get our fingers pricked by the Peacekeepers.

Jacqueline leaves me to go to the 17 year old section, while I head toward the 14 year old section. When I get there, I shove my way through to get to my best friend, Brietta.

When the escort starts her speech, I chew my nails. My heart plummets to the ground as she says cheerfully, "Ladies first!"

I see the escort's hand swoop into the bowl, swish around for a little, and select a name from the middle.

"Arylina Mersone!" she calls.

_No! No! No!_

The thought repeats itself over and over again in my brain, but somehow I manage to make myself walk up to the stage. I can see Saliara, my 7 year old sister, screaming and crying.

The thought that just enters my head now - _I could actually die - _makes me want to cry too.

The escort, with her ridiculous accent and stupid wig, has just announced the boy's name, but I didn't hear it. So when I see the boy walking toward the stage, I almost gasp.

It's my enemy, Jake Biliry. When I first looked over the crowd, I saw him laughing. Now, his head is down and he's dragging his feet.

My parents always say that I inherited Jaquelyn's smarts. I never knew if that was true or not, but I guess now I have a chance to find out. I didn't know that there was a good side to the Hunger Games.

The Capitol escort tells us to shake hands, but when neither of us do, she grabs our hands and places them together. We shake once, very quickly, and immediately let go again.

The escort sighs and straightens her wig, and then we head off toward the Justice Building. There, my family, all eight sisters and my parents, rush in and hug me. I think my mom is mad at Jacqueline for not volunteering, but I don't really blame her. Saliara, Alianna, Morgan, and Kadira all say that I have to win and that they will try to get money to sponsor me.

Before I know it, the time is up, and my entire family is ushered out. Brietta comes in.

"Why, Arylina, why did you sign up for so much tesserae?"

"Brietta, you know I had to."

"But still!"

Brietta, my normally calm and never hysterical best friend, is now close to tears.

"Arylina, you have to win. You've got to."

I tell her that I'll try, and the last few minutes of our time is spent talking about happy memories.

Brietta was my last visitor, so I head toward the train. I see that Jake is just about done too, and he arrives at the train the same time as I do. We both get on, with me going first, and our mentors come a little later.

My mentor, 20 year old Annabella, asks me if I have anything that I could use against the other tributes. I state the obvious: I'm smart.

She nods approvingly. "Just like your aunt, eh, Arylina?"

"Yes." I reply.

Meanwhile, Dyllin, Jake's mentor, is interrogating him. I catch the last few words of his sentence: "...good accuracy."

I snort, and both Annabella and Dyllin turn to me. "What?" snarls Jake.

"Nothing," I say. "Except that your 'good accuracy' statement is totally false."

"What do you mean? You know it's true!" he exclaims.

"Sure, sure, whatever." I say. "Your fist couldn't even connect with my face from the two feet distance you were from me. And I saw that one time you tried to throw a kitchen knife. Landed 20 feet away from your target."

Dyllin's eyes narrow. "Is that true?"

Jake replies evenly, "No."

Annabella looks at me. "Who am I supposed to believe?"

"Me." say Jake and I at the same time.

Dyllin rolls his eyes. "This is not going to work out well..."

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**A/N- So how was that? Good? Bad? Stupid? Creative? Horrible? Should I keep writing it? Feedback and constructive criticism is always appreciated!**


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